UK's First 'One Planet Borough' Launched

Image credit: Southern RailwayLondon Suburb Announces One Planet Living PlanIt's not just their involvement in everything from localized closed-loop paper recycling to decentralized supply chains to massive sustainable housing developments across the world that makes the UK-based Bioregional Development Group special. It's the fact that each of their projects uses environmental footprinting to form a holistic, detailed and coherent vision of what sustainability might look like, both on an individual and community level, and then sets about creating the services, products and infrastructure that might deliver it. The latest initiative from Bioregional involves a partnership with the borough of Sutton, a suburb of London and home to the groundbreaking BedZED housing development (another Bioregional project), to launch an ambitious plan to become the first "One Planet Borough". Cllr Colin Hall, Deputy Leader of Sutton Council, explained the thinking behind the scheme:

" For over 20 years Sutton has been a national leader in promoting greener living. We know that residents' focus right now will be on the economy and as a council we are working hard to support residents and local businesses. But we also have to plan now for the future Sutton that we want.

As the first One Planet Borough we want to work with local people to reduce our impact on the environment. But it's not just about being green for its own sake, it's about protecting Sutton's quality of life - reducing congestion and pollution, saving money through energy and water efficiency, protecting our green spaces — the list goes on."

The plan is based on Bioregional's now familiar One Planet Living principles and tackles everything from transport to local economy to retrofitting existing homes for energy efficiency and renewables.